Editorial: Let's spread the Thanksgiving spirit in Louisiana

We're already halfway into Thanksgiving week, a favorite time of year for us and virtually everyone we know.

What's not to like about a holiday that requires only three things: that you take a moment to give thanks for the good people and good things in your life, that you remember friends and neighbors who may not be as blessed and that you break bread with those who matter most.

We call this to mind today, just before we sit down to enjoy a Thanksgiving Day feast, to encourage all of Acadiana to do the right thing: Remember those friends and neighbors who need some help.

All of us know someone whose life would be a bit better if they had a bit more to work with. Poverty and "food insecurity" pervade our nation, and those coincident problems are worse in our state and extreme in some areas.

Research by Feeding America, the nation's largest hunger-relief organization, paints the big picture: 23 percent of children nationwide - more than one in five - are at risk of going hungry. The organization's report, "Map the Meal Gap: Child Food Insecurity 2012," tells the tough story with cold numbers.

The report counted families who responded "yes" to a Gallup poll that asked: "Have there been times in the past 12 months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?" With that, it determined the percentage of children in each state who were "food insecure."

That term does not refer to otherwise healthy kids whose stomachs may simply be growling before a meal.

Food insecurity is defined by federal health officials as "limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways."

And "hunger" is defined as "a consequence of food insecurity that results in discomfort, illness, weakness or pain that goes beyond the usual uneasy sensation."

Louisiana's five regional food banks provide emergency food assistance for more than 610,000 people annually statewide, including 245,000 children. Both numbers are growing.

This would be the right moment to help. While you're at it, encourage others to do likewise. There are many ways to help. Just remember that monetary donations do additional good because food banks can leverage those dollars.